We interviewed Maddison, who is the Cheese Bar Manager at Whitestone Cheese. Whitestone joined Foodprint earlier this year and have been serving up cheesy goodness to our customers ever since! Read on to find out more about Whitestone Cheese, where it originated from and where it's going.
What kind of food do you serve?
Cheese, cheese and more cheese! All our cheese is hand-made from our factory in Oamaru and our famous cheese rolls are a recipe from Sue Berry, co-founder of Whitestone Cheese. Sue would serve cheese rolls to all the shearers for smoko on the farm.
Our menu has a lot of comfort food delights - cheesy crumbed bites, halloumi fries and baked camembert. We also have a large cabinet selection of artisan cheese for creating your own platters at home.
What is your vision?
Opening a new hospitality establishment in between lockdowns hasn’t been easy! We’re hoping for a great summer where we can fully open our doors again and start serving wine & cheese in the sun!
Whitestone’s focus was firmly on growth in the NZ market and its coordinates for that growth were set on Auckland. Our cheese brand is well-known and consumer research showed foodies were looking for “cheese leadership”. When the prime location on Jellicoe Street, Wynyard Quarter became available, we jumped at the opportunity!
Our vision for the Cheese Bar is to expand further than simply served cheese! We have plans to open for masterclasses and events, while coffee, cheese-themed food and wine matches are served.
How do you describe your cafe and the food?
The Cheese Bar is a little taste of the South. The landscape imagery on the wall and cattle tags as table numbers tie in our North Otago farming roots. The space is intimate, full of light and the relaxed interior makes it easy to spend the whole afternoon grazing on our delicious range of cheese.
Where did your name come from?
Whitestone Cheese was founded in 1987 as a diversification to the family farm during the 1980’s rural downturn. The original factory was set up in a converted garage where one cheese, Whitestone Farmhouse, was launched. North Otago is limestone country, the ancient white rock inspired the name Whitestone.
Why did you want to join Foodprint?
As we entered our most recent lockdown, we were faced with the potential for food wastage from our large selection of cheese wheels in our cheese cabinet. We were able to partner with Foodprint to package up special cheese packages and sell them via Foodprint. This has had a huge positive impact on us not needing to throw out our cheese wheels that would usually be sold in-house or used in our cooking. We’re looking forward to expanding our menu on Foodprint and giving customers more options.
Anything else you'd like us to share?
Thank you for supporting NZ local! Hope you’re all staying safe during this time. We look forward to growing our menu on the Foodprint app and being able to serve more customers again soon!
댓글